February 28th, 201729The Kiev Major tickets were completely sold out in what seemed like seconds - reportedly, 20 minutes. With the ticketing agency intermittently offline at the time of ticket sales, a hellish process for English speaking buyers and no limits on purchases per person, the community has been sent into a tizzy. Event ticketing seems to be a...
February 11th, 20173653Esports is an industry where borders, culture and languages are bridged daily and global experiences are the norm. Politics and esports don't always intersect or impact each other - unless the discussion turns to travel visas. Visa issues have always plagued the Dota 2 international tournament experience and scene - preventing players...
December 30th, 201614LGD owner Pan "RuRu" Jie has been accused of stealing an API Key from Perfect World, back in 2013. The allegations come from Douma, co-founder and former employee of the VPGAME betting platform - also owned by Pan "RuRu" Jie. The stolen API Key was allegedly used to access private lobbies and inventories in the game client, and transfer...
December 13th, 2016516The Dota 7.00 patch makes Dota 2 a new game at fundamental levels. Here are ten important changes you need to know before you boot Dota 7.00.
Preface: I started doing professional patch analysis, first at JoinDOTA, then at DotaBlast and other outlets, about three years ago. I’ve been the first to break apart over a dozen patches...
December 11th, 201611Valve released Dota 2 Update 7.00 only one day following the Boston Major. - saying goodbye to years spent with patch 6. DotA was released in 2005 under patch 6.xx and then ushered into Dota 2 in 2011 with 6.72d as Beta keys were provided shortly before The International. Through the next five years, patches and updates morphed and...
December 10th, 20160Valve and PGL have announced the Kiev Major as the next in line for the spring. The Kiev Major will take place towards the end of April and be the first major to split the Americas into two separate regions of North and South for the qualifiers and give CIS their own qualifiers as well. PGL will continue to host the majors events, making...
November 28th, 20161Four days before the Boston Major group stage is set to get underway, on December 3rd, iG Vitality find themselves in a grim situation. Two of their players - Gao "dogf1ghts" Tianpeng and captain Su "super" Peng - have had their US visas denied for a third time and are thus unable to make the trip to Boston.
According to iG's...
November 22nd, 201615The International 6 picked up the top prize for "Esports Live Event of the Year" at last night's first annual Esports Industry Awards ceremony, in London. Amer "Miracle-" al-Barqawi was given the nod as "Esports Rookie of the Year", while Valve Corporation was honored in two categories: "Esports Publisher of the Year" and "Esports Game...
November 5th, 20160A few minor matchmaking updates have been implemented by Valve. Several changes to ranked and unranked play are aimed at random hero pickers. Report sensitivity has also increased as an attempt to decrease the negative and disruptive behaviors in matches.
Matchmaking Updates. #Dota2 pic.twitter.com/dNYpDwNyGq— Wykrhm Reddy...
November 2nd, 20164The Spring Major 2017 and TI7 dates for the open, regional qualifiers and main event for each have been released. Months in advance, Valve has broken its eleventh hour tradition of revealing information. The news comes on the heals of various tournament disruptions during the current Fall Major season with events such as Summit 6 needing...